Night Of The Killer Bunny Slippers
by Jessyca Thornbrook
Summary: When packs of vicious bunny slippers and monsters that look like the work of an insane alien taxidermist start attacking the citizens of fair Tokyo in the night, who ya gonna call? I'll give you a hint: it's not the Ghostbusters.
1. Chapter 1

Yes, I am aware that the entire premise of this story is extremely silly.

Without further ado, I bring you:

The Disclaimer!

I do not own this Sailor Moon.

It is not mine, this grand cartoon.

Would I, could I if I tried?

Would they sue me if I lied?

Not if I tried, sued if I lied,

no Sailor Moon, not my cartoon.

I do not like green eggs and ha--

Wait a minute. . . that's not right. . . .

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Night of the Killer Bunny Slippers

By Jessyca Thornbrook

Chapter One

Tsukino Usagi was just dozing off when she first heard the noise. She barely noticed it the first time. The second time it was a bit louder—or closer. A soft rustle, and something like a small animal breathing. "Luna, um tryn uh slee..." she mumbled into her pillow. The noise stopped.

Only to begin again a few minutes later. "Lu-NA!" Usagi groaned exasperatedly, sitting up in bed. "What's wrong with. . ." she looked around the room, ". . . you? Luna?" The cat was nowhere in sight. In fact, she had been missing since before dinner. It was nothing unusual—Luna often went off by herself—but if she wasn't back yet, then what was that noise?

And what was that white thing on the floor? Usagi felt that sudden chill which one sometimes gets when, waking in the night, one sees a strangely shaped shadow in the room, something definitely not belonging to its usual landscape. And when one gathers the nerve to switch on the bedside lamp, it turns out to be a jacket thrown over a chair, or a shopping bag forgotten in the corner by the door.

Or in this case, a pair of bunny slippers. Usagi rolled her eyes at her own foolishness, then turned out the light.

"Yeesh. One night at home alone, and I start to freak out over every little thing." Her parents were spending the night at a nice hotel for their anniversary, and Shingo was staying with a friend. Naru was supposed to have spent the night with Usagi, but had gotten sick at the last minute, and it had been too late to call any of her other friends. "Besides, they'd think I was scared to stay alone or something! At least, Rei-chan would. But I'm not! So there." She rolled over, punched her pillow a couple times, and closed her eyes resolutely, determined not to imagine any more noises.

The soft _fwhump_ of something landing on the foot of her bed, however, was definitely not her imagination. "Ugh. Luna, it's about time!" _Click_! On went the light. Usagi turned, and—

"AAAH!" Luna was still nowhere to be seen, but sitting at the foot of the bed, distressingly near her own feet, was a fluffy, white bunny slipper which had definitely _not_ been there a minute before. Its red plastic eye reflected the lamplight steadily, its acrylic fur moving only slightly in the breeze from the half-open window.

Usagi stared at the innocent-looking piece of footwear, her mind scrambling for rational explanations and coming up empty. Finally, with a trembling hand, she reached carefully over to her bedside table and picked up a Sailor V manga, keeping her eyes on the slipper the entire time. Still moving slowly, she rolled the manga into a cylinder. She leaned forward, stretching out her arm and trying to stop her hand from shaking, took a deep breath, and prodded the slipper with the rolled-up manga.

And it lunged! A mouthful of shiny white fangs appeared out of nowhere and sank into the paper with a snarl. Usagi screamed, and kept on screaming as she leapt out of bed. In her terror, she held onto her makeshift weapon with a death grip, and the fuzzy monster held on to the other end with equal tenacity. Usagi jumped around the room, trying to shake the terrible creature off, but it kept its hold, growling and snarling horribly the entire time. Finally, in a sudden burst of common sense, she flung both monster and manga out the window.

She just stood there in shock for a few moments, before collapsing back onto her bed with a sob. It was gone, it was gone, it was gone. She was all right. She should get up and close the window—though unless it could climb trees and/or fly, it wasn't getting back in _that_ way.

Wait a minute. . . didn't bunny slippers come in pairs?

No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than she heard a low growl behind her.

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Chiba Mamoru was exhausted. Despite the gratitude he felt toward his professor for getting him permission to study after hours in the library, eleven o'clock really was way too late to be staying at school after an already long day. It was all he could do to focus on his driving at the moment.

He was dimly aware—well, okay, more than dimly—that he was nearing the street where Tsukino Usagi lived. Why this obviously unimportant fact should appear with such clarity in his drowsy mind was a mystery. Of course, where Usagi was concerned, inexplicable reactions on his part were nothing new. She had the most bizarre effect on him. . . maybe he should write his psych paper on _that_! The research would certainly be interesting. . . .

Okay, driving! Focus on road. Police officers unlikely to accept long-distance Usagi-rays as reasonable excuse for running red lights.

Um, when had he decided to turn down her street? Mamoru sighed and shook his head. He really needed to get home.

Suddenly, something darted out in front of him. Before his mind had even registered that it was a person, his reflexes kicked in. He slammed on the brakes, screeched and skidded to a stop just inches from the figure that had frozen in his path, and sat clutching the steering wheel and muttering "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," like a lunatic. For a moment, he wondered if he'd had a heart attack—he'd felt like his heart was about to explode for a moment there. It was almost like the pain he felt when Sailor Moon was in danger, but he hadn't transformed, and the pain was gone now, though he felt so shaky he wasn't sure he'd be able to stand up if he tried.

All these thoughts fled immediately when he looked up and recognized the small form trembling in his headlights. He was out of the car in an instant.

"Odango? Are you okay? Usagi-chan!" She seemed immobilized with shock, and he grabbed her shoulder, shaking her slightly. She looked up at him with huge, terrified eyes.

"Ma—Ma—Mamoru?" she gasped out, and suddenly flung her arms around his waist, burying her face in his solarplexus. Stunned, Mamoru stroked her hair awkwardly, wondering why his heart was pounding harder now than it had been a moment ago.

"Usagi, what happened? Why are you out here—in your pajamas?" He noticed she didn't even have shoes on. "Where are your parents?"

Usagi raised her head, and the story came tumbling out in a single breath, so fast he could barely understand it. "There were monsters in my room and they looked like my bunny slippers but they were alive and they had teeth and I threw one out the window but I didn't see the other one and it bit me!" At the last words, she held up her right hand. Blood trickled from undeniably toothlike marks on the back of her hand below her little finger. A matching set like a lower jaw were on the corresponding side of her palm. Mamoru took her hand very gently in one of his own, examining the wounds.

"What did this? What on earth is going on here?"

"It's like I said—" Usagi began, but Mamoru's practical side chose that moment to take over.

"Wait, you can tell me while we get this bandaged up. You have a first-aid kit in the house?"

"No way am I going back in there!" Usagi almost shrieked. "That's where they are!" Mamoru opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by a horrible sound from inside the house. He'd heard cats fighting before, but this one sounded almost like a human screaming.

Usagi screamed too. "LUNA!" And without a moment's hesitation she dashed back into the house.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: If I owned Sailor Moon, I wouldn't have to get up and go to work tomorrow morning, and that would suit me fine. As it is. . . I'll be getting up and going to work tomorrow morning. Ugh.

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Night of the Killer Bunny Slippers

By Jessyca Thornbrook

Chapter Two

What Usagi lacked in size she made up in speed, Mamoru found as he raced up the stairs after her. He caught up just as she darted through a doorway and jerked to a stop so quickly that he almost knocked her down. Over her head he could see three small, light colored animals backing a small, dark colored animal into a corner. The dark one was hissing and spitting, and the light ones made a growling noise like no beast he'd ever heard before.

All this he noticed in an instant, for the white creatures, startled by the sudden arrival of the two humans, scattered to the far side of the room. The dark animal, which Mamoru now identified as a cat, moved toward Usagi, obviously injured.

"Luna!" cried Usagi, scooping the cat up in her arms. "Are you okay? Oh, please be okay!" Luna made a strange noise, and jerked her head oddly. "What? Tell me what's wrong!" Luna jerked her head again, and Usagi followed the movement to Mamoru, who was slowly bending down to look under the bed.

"Oh, right," whispered Usagi. Then, aloud, "Um, we should get out of here!"

Mamoru turned slightly to reply, and the bunny slippers chose that moment to attack. Mamoru straightened up with a yell, two of them hanging off his arms and one chewing away angrily at the lapel of his green blazer—evidently it had gone for his throat and only just missed. He spun around quickly, flinging one of them off and slamming another into the wall. The third held on stubbornly, slavering and snarling, but he finally managed to tear it away, along with most of his lapel, and throw it hard against the floor. It seemed dazed for a moment, and Mamoru stared at it. It was quite obviously a bunny slipper.

After a few seconds, it shook itself and scuttled back under the bed. Mamoru turned to Usagi, who stood hugging Luna and staring at him. "Let's get out of here!"

The girl nodded, moved toward the door, then suddenly turned back and grabbed something off the desk. As she pulled her hand away, a snarling white ball of fur landed in the place she had just touched. Mamoru grabbed her and pulled her out the door, slamming it behind them.

"What about your family?" he gasped as they pelted down the stairs and out the front door.

"They're not here," she gasped back. Outside the night was quiet, the stars were shining, and Usagi felt safer already. In fact, she'd felt much safer the moment she'd seen Mamoru—which was odd, considering their acquaintance couldn't exactly be called a friendship. She'd have to think more about this later. . . .

Mamoru stopped suddenly, about six paces from the front door, looking up. Usagi stopped, too, looking at him. "Please," said Mamoru in a low voice, "tell me those are big clusters of cherry blossoms in that tree."

Usagi followed his gaze, and her face grew pale.

"It's a maple tree," she said quietly.

"Damn," said Mamoru.

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I had a bizarre thought over my Cheerios this morning (I was up a leetle too late last night working on later chapters of this story, so my mind's been wandering in strange circles all day). Anybody here ever watch _Darkwing Duck_? I loved that show! Cracked me up. Anyway, I was thinking about Darkwing's evil nemesis, Negaduck, who was supposed to have come from the _Negaverse_. . . so my question is: are he and Beryl related? Think about it—they're both evil, and Negaduck has a serious dislike for fluffy bunnies, so he probably wouldn't like Usagi/Sailor Moon. . . .

Feel free to discuss. Or not. Me, I'm going to bed.

-Jessyca


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon belongs to Takeuchi Naoko and Toei Animation, and bits of it probably belong to a bunch of other people, too. The only thing that belongs to me is more bunny slippers than you could shake a stick at (if that's your idea of fun). So why are my feet cold?

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Night of the Killer Bunny Slippers

By Jessyca Thornbrook

Chapter Three

It all happened so fast. "Get to the car," hissed Mamoru, and before Usagi could speak, he gave her a shove and started running in the opposite direction, shouting and waving his arms. Usagi stumbled over to the car, dumped Luna in the driver's seat, and shut the door. When she looked up, Mamoru was halfway down the street already. He was moving fast, but the flock of white fluffballs moved faster, and even as she watched one leapt onto his back. Then another, and another, till he stumbled and fell, and they swarmed over him like giant, furry insects.

"No!" Usagi's scream cut through the darkness like a knife. Mamoru heard it, but more than that—he _felt_ it, resonating in his bones, every atom in his body responding to her call. With a sudden burst of strength, he threw off half of the creatures attacking him and struggled to regain his feet. There were too many of them, though, and they just kept coming. As he fell to his knees again, he was dimly aware of a bright light suddenly flaring off to one side, and the now familiar urge to transform into Tuxedo Kamen flooded his senses. Too bad he couldn't move his arms. . . .

Sailor Moon tore down the street toward the writhing mass of plush monsters. She couldn't use any of her attacks without endangering Mamoru, so she opted for a more direct approach. After all, she was stronger in her hero form, and she wasn't barefoot anymore. With a yell—that she hoped sounded more like a battle cry than a dying yak—she entered the fray, punting bunny slippers right and left with her booted feet. Most of them scattered in surprise from this unexpected onslaught. She kicked away a few that clung to Mamoru's arms and legs, and stomped viciously on one that was trying to squeeze between his arms to bite his face.

"Mamoru!" She grabbed his arm and pulled him into a sitting position, dropping to her knees beside him. "Are you okay?" His clothes were torn and he was bleeding in several places, but none of his injuries looked life-threatening. Still, when he didn't answer and just kept staring at her with his mouth hanging slightly open, she began to panic.

"Are you hurt? Mamoru!" she shook his arm, which she was still holding on to.

He blinked. "Sailor Moon! I—I'm okay—for a moment, I thought you were—but you're not—so how—" he babbled, in a most un-Mamoru-like manner.

"Talk later," she cut him off nervously. "Run now. Can you get up?" He did, with a little help from her, and she started pulling him toward the car before he could ask any more questions.

Not a moment too soon. The bunny slippers had regrouped at a distance and, as if responding to some inaudible signal, swept toward them in a wave. Fortunately, the two humans had a headstart, and Sailor Moon's super abilities made up for the difference in leg length. She and Mamoru reached the car at the same moment, seized the door handles, and gasped together in horror.

The doors were locked, and the keys were in the ignition.

Mamoru glanced up at the rapidly approaching tide of fluffy death, and was suddenly struck by another dreadful thought: the car was empty. Well, except for Usagi's cat. So where was Usagi? He found himself suddenly cold and sick with terror that something had happened to her. "Usagi!" he shouted, looking around wildly.

Sailor Moon looked up abruptly from her effort to inconspicuously get the attention of the black cat which appeared to be either sleeping or unconscious. "Uh, don't worry about her, she's, ah—she's safe!" she blurted out. "Really! She's okay!" _For a few more seconds, anyway,_ she added privately.

Mamoru looked at her, and his eyes widened in what Sailor Moon was terribly afraid was an expression of dawning comprehension. For a moment she wavered, unable to think what she should do next. Fortunately, the increasingly close growls of several hundred bloodthirsty bunny slippers made up her mind for her. She took a deep breath.

_Rei's gonna kill me._

"LUNA!" she bellowed at the top of her lungs, pounding on the car window. "WAKE UP AND UNLOCK THE DOOR!" Luna's head jerked up, and she looked around, startled and obviously suffering the effects of her injuries. "The door!" Sailor Moon shrieked again. Mamoru watched in amazement as the cat jumped to her feet as quickly as she could, favoring one paw, and quite deliberately pushed the unlock button with her pink nose.

"That's a smart cat," he said, feeling more sure than ever that this whole night was some bizarre dream.

Meanwhile, Sailor Moon wrenched open the passenger door and flung herself into the seat. "Get in!" she shouted to Mamoru. He obeyed mechanically, locking the doors and putting on his seatbelt, as if he were just taking a drive on a sunny afternoon.

"Hurry! Step on it! Let's get out of here!" the superheroine yelled again. He followed her instructions, still feeling oddly disconnected from the whole situation. Only when bunny slippers started bouncing off the windshield with angry growls did he really snap out of his daze. As soon as the car had cleared the crowd of slippers (and the one clinging to his windshield wiper had finally fallen off) he glanced over at the girl beside him.

"It's you, isn't it?" he almost whispered. Her head jerked up from her examination of Luna's paw.

"Huh? What? I mean, who? I mean, ah, I don't know what you're talking about!" she stammered. "What _are_ you talking about?"

"Usagi-chan," he began, but she quickly interrupted.

"Oh, her! I, um, hid her someplace safe! She's fine! In fact, she's with some friends of mine," she babbled desperately. "No problem. Don't worry about it—" she stopped suddenly. He _had_ sounded worried when he saw she wasn't in the car. He'd seemed _very_ worried, in fact. _Since when does he care about me?_

"Usagi," said Mamoru, slowly and deliberately, "I know it's you."

"What? Me, her?" She forced a laugh. "Where'd you get a crazy idea like that? Did you hit your head when you fell down back there?" She laughed again, hoping it didn't sound as choked as it felt.

Mamoru was quiet for a moment, watching the road ahead of him. Then he reached over with his left hand and carefully picked up her right. Her eyes widened in surprise, and somewhere in the back of her mind she wondered how such a cold guy could have such a warm touch.

"Your hand is still bleeding," he said softly.

"Huh?" she replied. She glanced down. Her white glove was decorated with a semicircle of blood spots where she'd been bitten. As Usagi. And he'd seen it.

She snatched her hand back with a gasp. _Oh no, oh no, oh, no! He knows! This is not happening! This can't be happening!_ She slumped back against the seat, eyes squeezed shut, heart thumping, and brain racing to think of some way to fix the situation. Nothing came to mind.

Mamoru watched her with a mixture of so many feelings he could hardly identify them all. Concern, elation, confusion, relief, disbelief all swirled through his brain. Concern began to win out, though, when he saw her white face and terrified expression. _What's she so scared of? Does she really think I'd tell anyone?_ He paused and grimaced. _Considering the way I usually treat her, she probably thinks I'll sell her secret to the highest bidder. She doesn't know that I could never, ever hurt her..._ He opened his mouth to reassure her.

At the sound of his voice, Sailor Moon opened her eyes, but whatever words he said were swallowed up in her own frantic cry.

"LOOK OUT!"

Tires squealed, the world spun in sickening circles and turned on its head, and all was black.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: The plot of this particular story is mine. The big ugly critter in this chapter is (unfortunately) mine. Sailor Moon and all other characters from the anime are not mine. Liability for the damage to Mamoru's car is definitely _not_ mine.

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Night of the Killer Bunny Slippers

By Jessyca Thornbrook

Chapter Four

Mamoru was only out for a moment, but it seemed much longer to Usagi, as she dangled upside-down in her seatbelt. She had somehow managed to hold on to Luna when the car flipped, so now she lowered her carefully onto the ceiling. The black cat shook herself and muttered something about wretched machines, then quickly jumped out the shattered window as Sailor Moon pressed the release button on her seatbelt.

"Ow!" Landing on your head and knees in bits of broken glass was, she found, every bit as unpleasant as one might expect. She squirmed around in the tight space to face Mamoru, who groaned as he came to.

"What happened?" he mumbled, rubbing his head where an ugly bruise was starting to form.

"We got in a car crash. I think you hit your head on the steering wheel," she explained. Then, as her usual coping mechanism for scary situations kicked in, she added "If this thing was supposed to have airbags, you should sue!" She grinned slightly at her own joke, but he didn't seem to have heard her.

In fact, his brain had frozen on the words _car crash_. Somewhere in the back of his mind, a tiny hole had been knocked in the wall that separated him from his earliest memories. Through that hole poured pain and terror that paralyzed him. For one moment he was six years old again, suddenly alone in a cold, dark world.

"Mamoru! Are you okay?" her voice cut through the haze, real and warm and full of concern. He came back to the present; the hole sealed itself up again, though the hands he raised to his face still shook.

"I'm okay," he answered, surprisingly steadily. He reached for the seatbelt buckle with one hand, bracing the other against the ceiling to catch himself when the belt let go. Which it didn't.

"Damn. It's jammed or something." He tried to see what the problem was, but in his current position he really couldn't tell.

"Let me try," said Sailor Moon. She crawled forward, trying to ignore the cuts on her hands and knees, and turned over onto her back. "Don't squish me, okay?" she said, as she reached up to manipulate the buckle. Her face was so close to his that his dark bangs brushed her cheek, and he could feel her breathing as she struggled with the seatbelt. He found he was holding his own breath.

"Nope, it's really stuck," she finally declared. "I think we need the jaws of life."

"We need a knife or something."

"Do you have one?"

"No. You?"

"No."

"Sailor Moon!" a voice from outside suddenly broke in. "Watch out!"

"What?" yelled the heroine, tipping her head back for an upside down look through the driver's side window. It had broken, but the glass hadn't fallen out. Through its distorted surface, she could see something moving toward the car. Something large. Very large.

What _had_ they run into, anyway?

"Get out of here!" said Mamoru suddenly.

"What? No!" Sailor Moon was struck by sudden inspiration. She stretched one hand down along her side, feeling around until she found (and cut herself with) a good sized piece of glass. Grabbing it, she began sawing away at the seatbelt strap, just above the buckle.

"Go on!" Mamoru insisted. "Get out of the car! We're both sitting ducks in he—"

He never got to finish. The window shattered inward under a ferocious blow. Sailor Moon threw her arms over her face reflexively, and before she could lower them, something grabbed her by the hair and pulled her out the window. Mamoru grabbed at her feet as she slid out from beneath him, but not quickly enough.

The creature was about ten feet tall, and it looked as if it had been pieced together from parts of different animals, some of which Mamoru couldn't even identify. It also looked like most of the animals had been dead for a week or two first. Its body seemed mostly feline, though the feet weren't right for a cat, and its snout was definitely reminiscent of a crocodile. It held one of Sailor Moon's pigtails in its teeth, and was shaking her like a dog with a chew toy.

Even as Mamoru took this in, a rose was forming in his hand. He flung it away and conjured another almost before his transformation had finished. The second rose flew straight at the monster's head, striking it just inches below its reptilian eye. It dropped its prey with an angry bellow, clawing at its injury with bear-like paws.

Sailor Moon rolled away, feeling like a sock that had been through the spin cycle. She raised her head painfully, just in time to see Tuxedo Kamen slice through the seatbelt strap with one of his roses. Her jaw dropped, her eyes grew round as dinner plates, and if the masked hero hadn't scrambled out of the car and hurled another rose at their enemy, it probably would have bitten her head off before she'd even remembered it was there. The monster staggered, howling in rage and pain, black ooze spurting from its ruined eye. The last rose had found its mark.

"Now, Sailor Moon!" shouted Tuxedo Kamen.

She obeyed without thought, like so many times before. Surprise, confusion, fear were all bundled into a corner of her mind as instinct took over. Her tiara flew, glistening, through the night air, struck its target, and returned to her hand. The creature gave a horrible, gurgling cry and toppled over sideways, hitting the ground with a resounding thud.

Silence followed. Sailor Moon found herself staring across the quiet street at the masked man of her dreams, her hero, her ideal. Also the man who had just this morning been her only human enemy. _What do __I say to him now? Is he disappointed that I'm just me?_

Tuxedo Kamen stared back, eyes troubled behind his mask. _What is she thinking? Does she hate me for being the guy who always put her down? I didn't know!_

The silence stretched out between them, expanding, smothering. Usagi felt she had to say something, but she knew that whatever she said would be wrong.

Mamoru knew without a doubt that he would open his mouth with the best of intentions and call her Odango Atama before he could stop himself. The empty air was stifling. Why couldn't a car drive by, or a dog bark, or _something_? Anything!

And then, soft as a sigh, they did hear something. Drifting on the night breeze, a gentle, lilting melody waltzed its way around them. It filled the space, closing the chasm between the two, though they stood in the same places as a moment before.

Usagi slowly drew out the locket from its hiding place and stared at it, mesmerized, as it lay glittering in the palm of her hand. Suddenly another gloved hand slipped beneath her own, holding it gently. The music grew stronger, clearer. Usagi raised her eyes to Mamoru's face, dimly wondering which of them had crossed the street, or whether they had met in the middle.

In the back of his mind, Mamoru suspected the laws of physics had been temporarily suspended, and they had just gravitated to each other. Why not? If eyes could be as blue and deep as hers, wasn't anything possible?

"I know this song," whispered Usagi, remembering for some reason the brush of his hair against her face earlier. _So soft. . . ._

"It only plays for you," Mamoru replied, also in a whisper. He felt as if he were falling toward her in slow motion. Their eyes drifted shut. . . .


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon. Big shock, I know.

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Night of the Killer Bunny Slippers

By Jessyca Thornbrook

Chapter 5

The locket's melody came to a close as their lips met. For exactly one tenth of a second, the rest of the universe ceased to exist, leaving only Sailor Moon and Mamoru—or was it Usagi and Tuxedo Kamen? Did it matter?

And then the universe rematerialized.

"Sailor Moon!" Luna's voice came like a punch in the stomach to both of them. They jumped back, blushing furiously.

"What?" demanded Sailor Moon sharply, forgetting how sorry she felt for her injured guardian, forgetting everything except the wonderful, heart-stopping warmth of that momentary kiss—and the fact that it was gone now.

Luna sighed with patient resignation. "We _should_ be investigating these youma. You can. . . _talk_ to Tuxedo Kamen later." She eyed him suspiciously. "I think we'll _all_ need to talk."

Sailor Moon turned an even brighter shade of crimson, but Tuxedo Kamen recovered his outward composure quickly. "Very well." He turned toward the fallen monster, which was now emanating a truly disgusting stench. Sailor Moon's gaze followed his, and she suddenly realized how close she was standing to the pile of gore.

"Ewwww! Gross!" she yelped, hopping a good six feet away. Mamoru squashed the urge to smile at her antics and made a determined effort to come up with a cold, logical comment worthy of Tuxedo Kamen. Something that would show he wasn't completely bowled over by the fact that Sailor Moon was Usagi, and that if Luna hadn't interrupted, he'd probably still be kissing her. And enjoying it. . . .

No, it hadn't affected him in the slightest! And he would prove it by making a brilliant observation about the ugly carcass in front of him. Any moment now. _Okay. It's a thing. A big dead thing. And it stinks. Probably because it's made of other dead things. So far, so obvious. It really _should_ have been obvious, you know. I mean, they had the same hairstyle, the same voice, same eyes. . . same lips—_ He abruptly derailed that train of thought. _Focus! Monsters! Evil! Of all the times for my hormones to finally take over my brain. . . ._

"Um," Sailor Moon's voice at his side broke into his internal rant. "Why is it still here, anyway?"

"What?" he turned toward her again, and she blushed.

"Well, I mean, the youma usually turn into dust, right? So why didn't this one do that? Maybe it's not a normal youma?" she ventured tentatively.

"Good thinking, Sailor Moon!" said Luna, sounding surprised.

"Yeah," echoed Tuxedo Kamen faintly. _Okay, I'm standing here like an idiot, and Odango Atama is making insightful comments based on deductive reasoning. Right. So, obviously, the world is coming to an end._

He shrugged, then realized Sailor Moon was still looking at him expectantly. It suddenly struck him that she was waiting for his approval. Of course Sailor Moon, and even Usagi-chan would care what Tuxedo Kamen thought, but the fact that they—she—still cared, knowing his true identity, made his heart jump strangely.

"Excellent observation, Sailor Moon," he stated, relieved when his voice came out clear and calm as usual. His recovery, however, was short-lived. She beamed up at him, her smile lighting her whole face and destroying his self control once more.

Usagi felt herself glowing in the warmth of his compliment—not to mention the look he was giving her. And this was Mamoru! She'd thought he hated her, at least as Usagi, but he knew who she was now, and he was looking at her like _that_! She almost thought he was going to kiss her again.

Mamoru _knew_ he was. His arms reached for her of their own accord. He couldn't help himself. He wanted—needed—to hold and kiss this girl, no matter how many identities she had. . . .

And the inevitable happened: they were interrupted, this time by the beeping of her communicator. Sailor Mercury's voice sounded unusually disturbed.

"Sailor Moon! The city is under attack by—"

"I know, I know," Sailor Moon cut her off. "Bunny slippers with teeth, and big patchwork dead things. Where are you?" She almost enjoyed the taken-aback look on her fellow warrior's face at finding her so on top of things.

"Jupiter and I are headed to the shrine, and Venus is on the way as well. We think something's wrong there."

"Huh? Like what?"

"My computer detected a lot of strange energy readings from that area. And," Mercury hesitated, "we can't reach Sailor Mars."

"What? But she always has her communicator! She nearly killed me the last time I forgot mine!"

"I know." The blue haired girl looked even more worried. "Please hurry!"

"Right!" Sailor Moon tried to sound encouraging. "We're on our way!"

"We?" said Mercury, confused, but Sailor Moon had already clicked the off switch.

"Come on!" she shouted to Tuxedo Kamen and Luna. "We have to save Sailor Mars! And if she's _not_ under attack, I have to be there to yell at her for forgetting her communicator!"

And without another word, she took off down the road. Tuxedo Kamen watched for a moment, his expression a mixture of amusement and admiration. He then carefully scooped up Luna, setting her on his shoulder, and followed his heroine.


	6. Chapter 6

Don't look now, but there's a pair of bunny slippers right behind you! ACK!

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon wa not mine desu.

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Night of the Killer Bunny Slippers

by Jessyca Thornbrook

Chapter 6

"Where are we going?" asked Tuxedo Kamen, catching up to Sailor Moon as she pounded down the pavement.

"Hikawa. . . Shrine," she gasped out, not slowing her pace.

_Of course. Hino Rei-chan. Sailor Mars. And the others, Usagi's friends. It all makes sense now._

When she reached the steps leading up to the shrine, Sailor Moon was forced to pause for a moment to catch her breath. Before she could get going again, a strong arm wrapped around her waist and lifted her off the ground. She clutched his jacket as he leapt up the stairs, only touching the ground once.

Instead of taking the main entrance, Tuxedo Kamen hopped over the wall to one side, landing in a place where the trees and bushes screened them from the rest of the shrine courtyard. He set Sailor Moon on her feet and lifted Luna carefully down from his shoulder.

"Luna, you should stay here," said Sailor Moon.

"But—" Luna began to protest.

"But nothing! You're hurt, and I don't want anything else to happen to you! When Venus gets here, we'll send Artemis to help you. So stay here!"

Luna stayed, though she wasn't quite sure why she was taking orders from Usagi, of all people. Still, there had been something in the girl's voice that compelled her to obey. Something Luna had never heard there before. And yet, it seemed. . . familiar, somehow.

Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen made their way through the trees toward the main building of the shrine. At last they were able to peer out of the undergrowth into the stone-paved courtyard. Everything was silent and still, but for some reason Mamoru felt cold fingers of fear closing around his heart.

"I've got a very bad feeling about this," he murmured. His companion nodded, her face showing the same strange dread he felt. Something was wrong here. Some sense beyond sight or logic told them that their lives were in danger, far more than usual.

Mamoru made a decision.

Usagi struggled to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach, forcing herself to think of Rei. She started to move, but before she had taken one step, the way was barred—by Tuxedo Kamen's arm. He grasped her shoulders gently and turned her around to face him. She looked up, questioning, and her jaw dropped slightly. He had taken off his hat and mask and was gazing down on her with dark eyes.

"Mamoru?"

"Just in case," he whispered. Then quickly, before anyone or anything could interrupt, he leaned down and kissed her.

As kisses went, it wasn't a long one, but what it lacked in duration it made up in intensity. Usagi melted into his embrace, instinct prompting her how to kiss him back. At her response, Mamoru's arms tightened around her and he deepened the kiss.

Far too soon, they broke apart. Neither wanted to, but both felt compelled by a sudden sense of urgency. Something was happening—something terrible—and it wouldn't wait for them. Mamoru took one more look into her eyes, before replacing his mask and hat. He pulled her into his arms again, briefly. Then he released her and started off across the courtyard.

Usagi followed in a daze. Something inside her was resonating, like the high, clear note of a bell. She couldn't explain it, even to herself, but something was happening. Something buried was surfacing. Something she'd lost was finding her.

And something large was coming around the corner of the shrine. As it lumbered into the moonlight, they recognized it as the same sort of patchwork creature they had defeated earlier—though it was a different shape, walking on its hind legs and sniffing the air with a doglike muzzle. It was considerably bigger, too, but the size wasn't what made Sailor Moon gasp in horror.

It was dragging something along on the ground behind it. As it moved forward out of the shadows, they suddenly recognized the limp bundle for what it was.

"Rei-chan!" choked Sailor Moon.


	7. Chapter 7

This chapter is guaranteed to meet or exceed your recommended daily allowance of creepy bad guys.

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon mine is not. (Nor Yoda mine is.)

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Night Of The Killer Bunny Slippers

by Jessyca Thornbrook

Chapter 7

Rei's skin was unnaturally pale, contrasting horribly with a dark streak running down her forehead. _Blood,_ thought Sailor Moon, her stomach lurching. The creature was dragging the unconscious girl along by her hair, its movements surprisingly silent. The only noise was the scraping of Rei's one wooden sandal—the other must have fallen off—against the paving stones. The sound was something akin to fingernails on a chalkboard, and it seemed to shred Sailormoon's already-fraying nerves.

She started forward, her only thought to punish this creature that hurt her friend, but Tuxedo Kamen caught her arm.

"If we attack now, we might hit Rei-chan," he whispered. The small heroine paused, then nodded reluctantly, blinking back tears. He squeezed her arm sympathetically. "I'll go around that way," he pointed. "I'll have a clearer shot from there. Once it drops her—" he broke off as a new sound reached their ears. It was a low whistle, the same mournful note twice, followed by a higher pitch. Unpleasant prickles ran down Usagi's spine at the sound.

The monster raised its head and howled in response, and moved off in the direction of the call. The two heroes followed at a distance, darting from shadow to shadow. As they came around the corner of the house where Rei and her grandfather lived—Usagi now recalled that he was away for a few days—they could see several unfamiliar forms in the open space at the heart of the shrine. They slipped behind a large bush and peered through the leaves.

Two more of the disgusting patchwork creatures stood there, snuffling and slobbering, and a few dozen of the possessed bunny slippers skittered about as well. By far the strangest sight, though, were the two figures at the center of it all.

They were human-shaped, more or less, but stood about eight feet tall, though one hunched over, taking several inches off its true height. That one—it was impossible to determine its gender—had long, tangled pale-blue hair obscuring most of its face. Shapeless gray robes covered its body, except for long, bony, violet-skinned fingers that fidgeted continuously with a small black bag that hung round its neck. The bunny slippers frisked around the hem of the gray robe like some kind of demented pets.

The other figure stood straight and still, with the two patchwork monsters hulking nearby as if waiting for a command. He or she—again, it was hard to tell—had dark blue hair that fell straight to his/her ankles, and violet skin like the other. He/she was dressed in blue and silver, and one slender but strong-looking hand rested on the hilt of a long black sword. Sharp red eyes surveyed the courtyard, then fixed on the beast that approached, dragging Rei.

"Well?" the figure spoke coldly without moving. "Is it she?" At her voice—both of the hidden watchers decided the voice was female—the hunched person shuffled forward quickly, crouching beside the unconscious girl. The creature holding Rei gave a low growl, but at a word from its mistress, it dropped her and moved away. The hunchback took what looked like a crystal point, about the size of a human thumb, from the bag around its neck, and began moving it slowly through the air over Rei's body, muttering something incoherent but decidedly unpleasant.

Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen could now distinguish some facial features through the matted hair. The hooked nose, in combination with the voice, convinced them that the hunchback was probably male. He had the same red eyes as the other, but they seemed less aware and alert, gazing off into nothing as if he were more accustomed to using senses other than sight. Sailor Moon shivered suddenly, and Tuxedo Kamen wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

The crystal point began to glow dimly and emit a low humming sound. The tall woman's eyes glittered, and both the patchwork creatures and the bunny slippers moved restlessly, as if expecting something.

Nothing happened. The crystal continued to hum quietly, its glow neither increasing nor decreasing. The woman's eyes narrowed, and the hunchback began to look uncomfortable. Finally he stood, turning to face her with an apologetic expression.

"She is not the one."

The woman moved so quickly she was barely visible, delivering a blow to the side of his head that sent him sprawling. The bunny slippers clustered around him, seeming almost concerned. "I am sorry, cousin!" he whimpered, scrambling to his feet. "She _has_ power, and I thought—"

"Silence!" she snapped, her voice cracking through the night air like a whip. "I grow tired of your failures, Nitha! First these pointless minions you created—" she kicked one of the bunny slippers, sending it sailing over the trees and into the blackness beyond.

"But the signs told me they would be useful!" Nitha protested. "I saw them in my vision! _She_ is connected to this object!"

"—and now," the woman continued as if he had not spoken, "you have brought us to the wrong place, and the wrong girl. You are useless, Nitha. If you were not my cousin, I would have slain you long ago." Her hand tightened on the sword hilt.

"Please, Gorai," he groveled, "I swear to you, this place _is_ significant! And the girl—she is, she may be. . ." his voice grew desperate, and then he seemed to be struck by a new thought. "She _must_ be one of the warriors! Yes! She has power, as I said! She can lead us to the one we want!"

Gorai considered this for a long moment, during which Nitha didn't appear to breathe. "Wake her," Gorai finally ordered. Visibly trembling with relief, Nitha turned back to Rei. He shook her, and when that had no effect, slapped her across the face.

Which was about when Sailor Moon lost it. Pulling free of Tuxedo Kamen's restraining grip, she sprang into the open with a shout, fists clenched and eyes flashing.

"Nobody hits my friends! In the name of the Moon, I will PULVERIZE you!"

_That may be her shortest speech ever,_ reflected a detached corner of Tuxedo Kamen's mind, even as he prepared to back her up.

Gorai and Nitha spun around in surprise, but the expression on Gorai's face quickly turned mocking. "And will you attack us all alone? How brave." She waved a hand negligently, and Sailor Moon suddenly found all three of the evil-smelling patchwork creatures and a few dozen bunny slippers bearing down on her at alarming speeds.

She barely had time to give a frightened shriek before several things happened at once. The closest monster suddenly stumbled and fell, a rose embedded in its skull. Another crashed down behind it, its legs tangled in a chain of heart-shaped links. The third howled in pain as lightning struck it. The bunny slippers halted in confusion, suddenly enveloped in a concentrated patch of fog.

"It's about time you guys got here!" yelled Sailor Moon, as Jupiter, Mercury, and Venus came running up. Jupiter was about to say something, but Tuxedo Kamen interrupted.

"Now, Sailor Moon!" She reached for her tiara, but before her fingers actually touched it, another voice sliced through the air.

"If any of you move, she dies!" Gorai stood calmly a few yards away, the point of her sword pressed against Rei's throat. No one moved or breathed.

"What do you want?" Tuxedo Kamen finally broke the horrified silence. Gorai's mouth curled in a slow, cruel smile.

"I want the heart of the Moon Princess. On a plate."


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I still don't own Sailor Moon, and should probably be spending my time writing stuff that I could actually potentially make money off of. . . but fanfiction's just so darn fun!

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Night Of The Killer Bunny Slippers

by Jessyca Thornbrook

Chapter 8

A moment passed in stunned silence. Then—

"WHAT?" yelled the four girls in unison. Tuxedo Kamen didn't yell, but his face suddenly matched the color of his mask.

"You heard me," Gorai stated matter-of-factly, her sword tip still resting against Rei's neck. "I shall find the Moon Princess, and when I do, I shall cut out her heart with this," she pulled a wicked looking knife from her belt. "I shall then devour her still-beating heart and absorb all the power of her ancient soul!"

"Devour?" shrieked Sailor Moon.

"You mean you're planning to—to EAT her heart?" Venus' eyes boggled. "EWWWW! That is _so_ disgusting!" Jupiter nodded in agreement, looking sick.

"Besides," put in Mercury, "you can't take someone's power by eating an internal organ. It's scientifically impossible."

"Silence, brat!" snapped Nitha, glaring at the blue-haired girl. "You know nothing! Lady Gorai has devoured the hearts of dozens of enemies, and with each she has grown stronger, adding their abilities to her own—"

"Enough, Nitha," Gorai cut him off. "I can speak for myself." She looked around at the Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen, and the five suddenly realized they were surrounded. One patchwork youma still lay motionless with a rose sticking out of its head, but the one Jupiter had hit was up, though limping, and the third had wriggled free of Venus' chain. More bunny slippers had arrived, and the whole horde had circled around behind the heroes, cutting off every avenue of flight.

"Yes," Gorai smiled. "There can be no escape. None have escaped me, not since the day my honored father died. You see, I was once a young girl, a weak, pathetic creature like all of you. But I seized the opportunity of power! The strength and wisdom I wrested from my father enabled me to defeat mighty beings throughout the galaxy and become stronger still. And now," her voice rose almost to a shout, "I shall have the heart of the legendary Moon Princess, with all the strength of her lost kingdom, and the power and pain of two lifetimes! I shall be invincible!" She laughed, and Sailor Moon felt her bones turn to water at the sound.

"Hey, psycho!" yelled Jupiter, fists clenched at her sides and eyes flashing. "If you think we're letting you anywhere NEAR the Princess, you've got another think coming! I don't care how many of your relatives you've eaten!"

"Yeah!" Venus agreed, and Mercury nodded angrily. Sailor Moon tried to look as brave as her friends, but inside she was quaking. The entire confrontation was making her far more nervous than she could rationally explain. The only thing keeping her from shrieking and curling into a fetal ball was the presence of Tuxedo Kamen a few feet behind her. She couldn't see him, but somehow she knew exactly where he was, and she held on to that knowledge like a lifeline.

For his part, Tuxedo Kamen was staring silently at Rei, forcing himself to focus on the sword at her throat. _Remain calm,_ he told himself. _Any violent reaction could cost Rei-chan her life. Be calm. Rational._ He repeated this mantra in his head, again and again.

It wasn't working. Rage boiled up inside him, ready to explode. He wanted to act, to attack Gorai, punish her for even _thinking_ of harming the princess—_his_ princess—and for frightening Sailor Moon. The small warrior was trembling; he could see her hair moving, and there was no wind. And more than that, he could _feel_ her fear. . . or maybe it was his own?

Ignoring the reaction of the Senshi, Gorai suddenly turned to Nitha. "Well?" she asked sharply. Nitha jumped, startled, then nodded and scrabbled around in the small black bag he wore. He drew out the same crystal he had waved over Rei's body, and held it out in front of him, toward the heroes. The crystal began to glow and hum again, but where it had stopped before, it now kept growing brighter and louder.

Excitement evident on his face, Nitha took a step forward. The crystal suddenly gave a blinding flash, the hum soaring to a piercing shriek—and then it shattered into a million pieces.

Nitha's cry of alarm swiftly turned to one of triumph. "She's here, Cousin!" he howled gleefully. "She's right in front of us! The Moon Princess herself, right here!"

"At last," whispered Gorai, her lips twisting into a cruel smile. Then raising her voice, "Which one of these pathetic would-be-warriors is she?" The Senshi glanced at one another in surprise. One of them?

"Not this one, obviously." Gorai prodded Rei with her foot, and was rewarded by a soft groan. Sailor Moon's heart leapt at the sound. Rei was alive!

"Not that one, either," said Nitha. He pointed a bony finger at Tuxedo Kamen and made a choked sound that might have been meant for a laugh. Tuxedo Kamen stared coldly at him, unflinching.

"True," said Gorai thoughtfully, as if noticing him for the first time. She raised her hand to her mouth and whistled—that same bone-chilling sound that Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen had heard earlier—and one of the patchwork creatures lumbered over to stand guard over Rei, who was now moving slightly, though her eyes were still closed. Gorai, sword still drawn, strode forward to stand directly in front of Sailor Moon (who barely came up to her waist), looking over her head at Tuxedo Kamen. Sailor Moon jumped back with a squeak, and Tuxedo Kamen swiftly stepped between her and the violet-skinned menace.

Gorai seemed to take no notice. "You," she began, staring intently down at the masked hero, "you do not belong in this company. Who are you?"

"I am one who will not allow you to harm the princess," he replied cooly, maintaining his dignity even though Gorai towered over him by a good foot and a half at least.

_Now that's something you don't see every day, _whispered a small unparalyzed portion of Sailor Moon's brain.

"Hmph. We shall see. Nitha!" Gorai snapped, not taking her gaze from Tuxedo Kamen's face, as if trying to read his thoughts through his eyes. Nitha jumped again, and shuffled quickly to her side. "What is this man?" she demanded.

Nitha peered down at Tuxedo Kamen, his eyes growing distant and blank. A strange tension filled the air nearby. Tuxedo Kamen could feel it buzzing in his brain—not a pleasant sensation—and Sailor Moon felt the hair on the back of her neck rising. Her first instinct was to run, but she moved closer to Tuxedo Kamen instead, fists clutching the fabric of his cape.

The buzzing intensified, till the three Senshi standing a few meters away were shifting uncomfortably. Rei moaned, tossing her head back and forth. Mamoru remained motionless, but beads of sweat were forming on his brow, and a slight movement of his jaw suggested he was clenching his teeth.

Usagi whimpered and pressed her face into his back. It felt like her brain was going to explode! _Someone make it stop._ The buzzing only got worse. _Please stop!_ It grew louder. _Stop! _Louder. _Stop _NOW

Suddenly several things happened at once. Usagi and Mamoru both felt something a bit like an electric shock, but different. The buzzing stopped, and Nitha stumbled backwards as if he had been struck. Gorai took half a step back, and then before anyone else could move she had her sword at Mamoru's throat.

"So. You do have power. How interesting." Her eyes narrowed in concentration.

"I don't understand!" whined Nitha, regaining his balance and glaring at Tuxedo Kamen. "I've never heard of any other beings on this world with power to equal the legendary Senshi, and yet—"

"But you forget, Nitha," Gorai inturrupted him, "there _was_ a man in the legend of the Moon Princess. Do you not remember?" Nitha stared at her blankly, and Gorai seemed to be repressing the urge to hit him again. "The Princess died in the final battle because she would not leave her lover, the Prince of Earth. So they died together. A tragic story." Her red eyes glinted with enjoyment as she spoke. "The tale of Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion is scarcely remembered now, in these days of ignorance and forgetfulness. But I remember! I know the power that such a sacrifice creates, and that power shall be mine!"

"Once we figure out who the Princess is," muttered Nitha.

"Fool!" Gorai shouted, turning toward him. Her sword remained pointed at Tuxedo Kamen, but had moved away from his throat by a few inches. This would have been cause for relief, both to him and to the small girl standing behind him, had they not been completely distracted at that moment.

_. . . Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion. . ._ The words rang through their heads. Mamoru wasn't sure if his mind was finally clearing—or breaking. Those names meant something to him. . . or did they?

Usagi felt that strange resonance again, as if her soul were chiming in response to those two names. Especially the second one. . . .

"Endymion," she whispered, and again felt the sense of connection she had experienced moments earlier, when they had made Nitha stop doing whatever-it-was. She knew that hadn't been just Mamoru, or her, but both of them together. And it had felt so natural, and familiar. . . .

Gorai was still shouting at Nitha. "Idiot! We have the Prince, so the Princess will come to us! She would not leave him in their last life, and she will not stand idly by while he perishes now!"

There was a brief flash of movement, faster than the eye could track.

Three long strands of golden hair floated to the ground. The moonlight reflected dully off the blade of the black sword sticking out the back of Tuxedo Kamen's shoulder, centimeters from Sailor Moon's head.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: If you don't know which parts of this are mine and which parts aren't, then you obviously aren't one of the people who would have a right to sue me over it anyway.

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Night Of The Killer Bunny Slippers

By Jessyca Thornbrook

Chapter 9

If a sudden arctic wind had swept through and turned everyone's blood to ice in their veins, they could not have been any more thoroughly frozen. Tuxedo Kamen stood like a statue with Gorai's sword through his shoulder. Behind him, Sailor Moon stared at the blade without moving. The Senshi looked on, transfixed with horror, and Rei lay still on the stony ground. Nitha watched Gorai, motionless, and Gorai's crimson gaze remained locked on her victim's face. Even the patchwork monsters and bunny slippers were still, as if the whole world held its breath.

Slowly, a single drop of blood made its way along the bottom edge of the sword blade. It hung there for a moment, then fell, staining the strands of golden hair that had been severed by the sword. Usagi followed it with her eyes, unable to think, move, or breathe.

Then all hell broke loose. Jupiter lunged at Gorai with an enraged yell and was blocked by one of the patchwork monsters. Gorai stepped back, pulling her sword with her, and Tuxedo Kamen's knees immediately buckled. Sailor Moon instinctively threw her arms around his waist, but wasn't able to hold him up. She dropped to the ground with him, scraping her knees on the paving stones. Venus tripped Nitha with her love-me-chain, but went down a moment later under a sudden onslaught of bunny slippers. Mercury, who had been glancing from Rei to Tuxedo Kamen, as if trying to decide who to go to first, turned back to help Venus.

As chaos raged around them, Usagi supported Mamoru's much larger frame as best she could, cradling his head against her shoulder. The hat and mask had been knocked off when he fell, and for a moment as he looked up at her, his face was that of a scared little boy.

Usagi had no idea where she summoned a smile from, but she forced it onto her face. "You're going to be okay," she stated firmly, surprised at the confidence in her own voice.

"I don't think so," he replied weakly, reaching up a hand to touch her face. "I'm sorry I teased you so much. You really are beautiful. Like a princess. My princess. . . ."

Usagi's eyes widened, even as they filled with tears. _Princess_? The fingers stroking her cheek began to tremble, and she quickly covered them with her own. Mamoru's breathing grew more labored, his eyes glassy. "No," she whispered. The tension seemed to go out of his muscles, and his hand would have dropped if she hadn't held onto it. "No! Mamoru! _Mamoru!"_ Her voice rose, and Jupiter, who had fallen a few feet away as she jumped to avoid a blow from one of the monsters, heard it.

"Mamoru-san?" she gaped. "What the—" Her next words were cut off, as she rolled quickly out of the way of a huge claw.

Hot tears rose in Usagi's eyes, blinding her, and as they overflowed, another feeling that had been building inside her broke free, as if her heart were being ripped in half from the inside out.

"_Endymion_!"

All heads turned at her desperate cry, and were met with a surge of blinding light. A strange melody filled their ears, and a sudden wind carried the scent of some flower which the Senshi recognized as familiar, but could not identify. When the light faded, a person stood before them that was definitely Usagi, and Sailor Moon, and yet was completely different from both of them.

Gorai laughed triumphantly as the Senshi just stared at the Princess—for this was most certainly the princess they had been searching for. If the long white gown and the wing-shaped jewels in her hair had not told them so, the look in her blue eyes would have made it clear: this was royalty. This was the daughter of Queen Serenity, heir to the throne of the Moon Kingdom. This was the reason they fought.

"This is victory!" crowed Gorai, tossing the black sword carelessly aside and drawing the knife from her belt. "Now I shall finally attain _true_ power! The heart of the Moon Princess will be mine!" She lunged forward.

"NO!" cried the Senshii, realizing too late that none of them stood close enough to intervene. There was a sudden flash of movement, and then the clash of metal on metal, as a black-gauntleted arm knocked the knife aside. A tall man in black armor faced Gorai with defiance in his eyes, though his face was pale and his legs seemed barely able to hold him up. His voice, however, rang out strong and clear.

"You will not touch her!" Gorai merely snarled in response, as she tore her wrist from his grasp. He dodged the knife, but wasn't quick enough to evade the punch directed at his still-wounded shoulder. Gorai's knuckles clanged against his armor and sent him flying back several yards to land in a heap, groaning in pain. She moved in to finish him off, but found her way blocked by the small figure of the Princess.

"So, Your Highness," Gorai sneered, "you've decided to give yourself up? A wise decision, though it will not save your lover, or your friends!"

The Princess merely looked at her with the same calm, determined gaze. Then she raised the object she held in her right hand: a crescent moon on a stick, with a silver crystal set in the base. Comprehension dawned on Gorai's face, and she raised her knife for a final charge, but before she had taken half a step she was caught in a blast of power emanating from the wand. She gave a strangled, incredulous cry, and disintegrated. The patchwork monsters were swallowed up as they rushed to aid her. Nitha cowered on the ground at a distance, and the Senshi watched in astonishment.

Finally, the light faded, and the Princess let her arm drop back to her side, wavering slightly on her feet. As if responding to some silent signal, the three Senshi dropped to one knee before her. She smiled wanly at them, then turned toward the fallen Prince. They rose to followe, but at a sudden noise all three spun around into defensive positions. Nitha stood behind them, a murderous expression on his face. He was holding Gorai's knife by the blade, as if about to throw it, but even as they watched, it slipped from his fingers, and his gaze dropped to the much larger blade protruding from his chest.

He fell forward with a gurgling cry and lay still. Behind him, pale and shaky but very much alive, Rei dropped the black sword and gave the others a half-smile.

"So, what did I miss?" She glanced over to where Princess Serenity knelt beside Prince Endymion. "Apparently a whole bunch."

"Are you all right?" demanded Mercury, pulling a first aid kit out of thin air.

"I'll live. Don't worry about me. I think you're needed more over there," Rei spoke quietly, nodding toward the legendary lovers.

The Princess appeared to have taken no notice of Nitha's demise. "Endymion," she called softly, "Endymion, my love. Please wake up!"

With a muffled groan, the Prince slowly opened his eyes. "Serenity!" he breathed, once he managed to focus on her.

"Endymion," she smiled through her tears, "will you do something for me? Something important?" He smiled weakly.

"Anything, my love."

"Promise?" The smile came more easily this time.

"Anything. I am yours to command, while I have breath in my body." The way he gasped out the last few words suggested this might not be very long. Mercury, as she inconspicuously scanned him with her computer, looked grave.

"Then do this for me, my prince: _live_!" The words were half a plea, half a command. The Prince hesitated a moment, then nodded—almost imperceptibly, but it seemed to satisfy the Princess. She bent down and kissed his forehead gently, and it was only when she detransformed back to Sailor Moon, and then to Usagi, that the Senshi realized she had fallen asleep.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon, but I'm way too stoked about finishing this story to let a little thing like that bother me!

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Night Of The Killer Bunny Slippers

By Jessyca Thornbrook

Chapter 10

He woke slowly, his consciousness emerging, bit by bit, through layers of fog and darkness, and strange dreams that vanished when he tried to grasp them. The sounds coming from outside his head gradually detached themselves from his imagination, and he spent a few minutes trying to identify the familiar hum and beep of machinery.

_Hospital_, his groggy brain finally suggested, and it was that thought that finally snapped his eyes open. He found himself, indeed, in a hospital bed, with an IV in the back of his hand _(Ugh, I hate those things!)_ and a dull ache in his right shoulder. Exploring it gently with his left hand, he found bandages. _Bandages. What happened? Monsters. . . tall purple psycho-woman with a sword. . . beautiful princess. . . but how did I get here? I don't remember. . . ._

He sat bolt upright, clutching the blankets in sudden panic. "Okay, calm down," he told himself aloud. "Do I know who I am? I'm Chiba Mamoru. I'm twenty years old. I'm a pre-med student and part-time superhero. So far, so good. I'm in the hospital because. . . because I got stabbed by an alien with a big black sword, and then I turned into someone else and got punched through my armor. . . ." He paused, running a shaky hand through his hair. "Okay, we'll just leave that topic for the moment. Stick to the basics. My best friend's name is Motoki. I live on the fourteenth floor. I keep roses, I drink my coffee black, and my parents died in a car crash when I was six. And I'm in love with Tsukino Usagi."

As that last statement slipped out, he heard a soft gasp from somewhere to his left. He whipped around, ignoring the protests of his wounded shoulder, and came face to face with a young woman in a nurse's uniform. She had short blond hair and big blue eyes which seemed extremely familiar to him, though he couldn't place her. She also appeared to have frozen in the midst of eating his jell-o.

"Do I know you?" he asked hesitantly. _Please don't let me have amnesia again, please oh please oh please. . . ._

"Huh?" she blinked at him for a moment, then jumped to her feet, dropping her spoonful of jell-o on the floor. "Oh! Right! Sorry, I forgot about my disguise. . ." she trailed off as she fumbled in her pocket for something. A moment later, Mamoru found himself once again doubting his sanity as the nurse lost several centimeters of height and gained at least a meter of hair, and her scrubs morphed into a pink sweater and denim skirt.

"Um. . . surprise?"

"Usako! How did you do that?" Mamoru gaped.

"Oh, it's this disguise pen thingy that Luna gave—" she broke off suddenly, a deep blush spreading across her face. "U-Usako?" she asked in a slightly trembling voice.

"Um, well," Mamoru stammered, feeling his own face grow warm. "If you don't mind, I mean. . . ." He looked at her almost pleadingly.

"I don't mind. . . Mamo-chan," she answered shyly. Mamoru had a sneaking suspicion that he was now grinning like an idiot, but at the moment it didn't bother him too much. He reached for her hand, still a bit cautious, but she met him halfway. Their fingers entwined as if they'd been formed for exactly that purpose.

After several minutes of silence—during which Mamoru tried to wrap his brain around the incredible feelings of happiness and completeness that were threatening to burst his heart, and Usagi didn't even try to comprehend it but just stood there _feeling_—Mamoru finally spoke.

"So. . ." he was finding it hard to hold onto his train of thought, "how did I end up in the hospital, anyway? The last thing I remember was," he paused and thought for a moment, then smiled slowly, "promising a beautiful princess that I wouldn't die." Usagi smiled, but he thought he could see a hint of tears in her eyes. He squeezed her hand, as if to remind her that he had kept his promise.

"Well, I can only tell you what the girls told me. I checked out about the same time you did—I guess that whole princess thing takes a lot out of me. They said I slept for twenty hours straight, which is a record, even for me!" She grinned impishly, and Mamoru laughed. "They put me in Rei's house, and then called an ambulance for you. Well, and for Rei-chan, since she had a, um, a conclusion."

"A conclusion?" Mamoru blinked. "Oh, a concussion!"

"Right, one of those! From hitting her head—or having her head hit. She couldn't remember that part exactly. Oh, and did you see when she killed that Nitha guy? With that—that black sword." Her grip on his hand tightened. "I didn't notice at the time, because I was too worried about you. . . ."Mamoru raised her hand to his lips, and she shivered at his gentle kiss and forgot what she was trying to say.

"What happened to the bunny slippers?"

"Hm? Oh, they turned back into ordinary slippers. I guess because Nitha was controlling them, they went back to normal once he was gone. Mako-chan said the paramedics were really confused, though, when they showed up and found a pile of slippers, and one of those yucky dead monster things, and an eight foot tall alien, and you in the middle of it all."

"I'll bet. What did the Senshi say to explain it?"

"Ami-chan came up with a really good story, um. . . something about you and Rei-chan being innocent bystanders. I can't remember all of it, but it was really believable! You know how smart she is." Usagi stopped, looking suddenly thoughtful. "It's so weird, being able to talk to you about Senshi stuff."

"Would you rather go back to shouting and calling each other names?" he asked with a smile.

"No! This is good! Talking is good. Not being enemies is good. This. . . is good." She found herself getting lost in those dark blue eyes again.

"This is good," he echoed. "And you know, I seem to remember recently discovering something else that was good." He gave her arm a gentle tug, pulling her nearer, until she perched—a little self-consciously—on the edge of his bed. "Do you remember when we got to the shrine, after we left Luna and just before we found Rei-chan?" His voice had grown soft, caressing her ears like velvet.

Usagi nodded, since her vocal chords didn't appear to be functioning at the moment. Yes, she most definitely remembered being held and kissed like there was no tomorrow! But as memorable as it had been, he hadn't touched her face the way he was doing now, his fingers so warm and gentle. And in the dark, she hadn't been able to see the look in his eyes, longing and loving, gentle and hungry, scared and happy and lost and found all at the same time. It took her breath away!

"Usako," Mamoru whispered, once he managed to divert enough brainpower from simply marveling at the texture of her skin.

"Mmm?" She closed her eyes and turned her head slightly, nuzzling her face into his palm, and it took him several seconds to recall what he'd been about to say.

"Usako," he began again, "since I kept my promise to you, would you promise me something?"

She opened her eyes again at the serious undertone in his voice. "Of course," she answered automatically. "Anything. What do you want me to do?"

Mamoru took a deep breath. "It's asking a lot, I know." He leaned closer, till only a few inches separated them. "Would you. . . _can_ you. . . love me? All of me?" _Does she understand what I'm asking?_

Usagi blinked, then smiled brilliantly. "Silly. I always have. All three of you."

That was all the answer he needed.

------------

Unbeknownst to the young lovers, a desperate and dangerous mission was taking place less than a hundred meters away at the nurse's station. A raven-haired girl with a bandage on her forehead was asking the scowling Head Nurse how to minimize scarring, while a few feet away a blue-eyed blond and a tall brunette chatted and smiled flirtatiously at two male interns. Behind them, a serious-looking girl with short black hair was politely grilling a middle-aged doctor on the finer points of neurosurgery. And in the background, unnoticed by any of the hospital staff, a shadowy figure slipped away down the forbidden corridor.

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Mamoru had discovered something amazing: the people who wrote all those sappy songs—the ones about birds suddenly appearing, and having sunshine on cloudy days, and love lifting us up where we belong—weren't just victims of childhood head trauma like he had always thought. They had actually known something he hadn't! (Granted, the song with the birds still sounded like a Hitchcock movie—but maybe love was like that for some people. Who was he to judge?) As he sat there in his hospital bed, with his mind in a pleasant fog, his heart seemed to beat true for the first time in nearly fifteen years. And every beat spoke the name of the golden creature in his arms.

Curled up on his lap, her head resting against his chest, her eyes closed, Usagi was perfectly and absolutely happy. The older part of her soul, with which she'd become much more familiar over the last forty-eight hours or so, suggested that beneath her current feelings was layer upon layer of deeper, more profound joy that she was still too young to understand. She didn't let that bother her, though. Her past self also whispered that she would have many, many years to explore all her feelings for this man, her love, her soulmate. Her prince.

They were finally roused from their daydream by the sound of approaching footsteps. "Oh no!" whispered Usagi, jumping up. "It's that evil nurse! I'm not supposed to be in here!" And without further ado, she dove under the bed.

Still a bit dazed, Mamoru scraped together enough wits to adjust his blankets to provide her (he hoped) adequate cover. He certainly wasn't going to let anyone throw her out!

There was a hesitant tap on the door, as if the person outside wasn't sure if knocking was appropriate in this situation. The door opened slowly, and then Motoki stuck his head through. When he saw Mamoru, he grinned, and stepped quickly inside, shutting the door behind him.

"Man, you wouldn't believe how hard it is to get in here! I think that head nurse is part pit-bull. 'Family only!'" he mimicked. "I tried to convince her I was your brother, but she asked for my ID." He stopped for breath, and took a good look at his friend. "So how are you feeling?"

"I feel great!" Mamoru replied sincerely, still smiling. Motoki's mouth dropped open.

"Great? _You_ feel _great_?"

"Well, my shoulder's a little sore, but other than that, yeah. What's the problem?" Mamoru raised an eyebrow at his friend's baffled expression.

"Mamoru, we've known each other for years, and in all that time I've _never_ heard you say you felt great. Not once. And," he peered closer, "you're _smiling_. A lot. What kind of painkillers do they have you on?" he exclaimed, grabbing the IV stand and examining the bag. As he stepped closer to the bed, his foot hit something.

"Ow!"

"Careful!" said Mamoru sharply.

"What the—?" Motoki leaned down and lifted up the edge of the blankets.

"Ohayo, Motoki-san!" Usagi chirped, smiling innocently up at Motoki's astonished face.

"Usagi-chan! What are you doing under there?" he demanded, utterly confused.

"Hiding," she replied as she scrambled out from under the bed. "I thought you were the evil nurse!"

"Well, I can understand wanting to hide from her, but what were you doing in here in the first place?" He looked from her to his injured friend.

"She came to visit me," said Mamoru calmly, though he still had that uncharacteristic smile across his face.

"Okay, yeah, but. . . _why_?" This made absolutely no sense to Motoki. Those two couldn't stand each other, right? Sure, Usagi had a warm heart and a forgiving nature, but would she really go to all the trouble of sneaking into the hospital to visit her worst enemy?

"Well," said Mamoru slowly, "if you were in the hospital, you would expect your girlfriend to come visit you, right?"

"Sure, but what does that have to do with. . . ." Motoki's question trailed off, and he looked from Mamoru to Usagi, then back to Mamoru, then Usagi again.

"No way. Uh-uh. You guys are just messing with my head, right?" He laughed, a bit nervously. "Ha ha, very funny. You really had me going—" Motoki stopped dead, mid-sentence, and just gaped as the eternally serious King of Cold Logic wrapped an arm around the waist of the careless, hyperactive, chronically cheerful teenager and pulled her close. Motoki's eyes threatened to leap from their sockets when the aforementioned teenager in turn twined her arms around the ultra-studious college guy's neck. And when their lips met in the sweetest of kisses, the only sound apart from the background noise of the hospital machines was the muffled thud of Mamoru's best friend hitting the linoleum.

"Mamo-chan," murmured Usagi, several long and pleasant moments later, "when you get out of the hospital, will you buy me a present?"

Mamoru chuckled against her hair. "We've been going out for twenty minutes, and already she wants presents!" He smiled and kissed the top of her head. "Of course I'll buy you anything you want—that I can afford," he tacked on hastily. "You'd better tell me about it quickly, though, since I think I'm going to have to call a nurse for poor Motoki-kun." He glanced over to where his friend had, fortunately, landed with an arm between his head and the floor.

"I'd like frog slippers."

"Frog slippers?" he raised an eyebrow. "Why? I mean, I can understand why you wouldn't want bunnies, but why frogs? I would have thought you'd want bears, or kittens. Something, you know, cute and furry."

"No way," said Usagi, shaking her head emphatically. "Kittens and bears are cute, sure, but frogs have one major advantage!"

"And that is?"

"No teeth!"

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The End


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